Abortion debate rages near new Aurora clinic

Anti-abortion activists and Planned Parenthood supporters came face to face in Aurora Thursday afternoon over a women's health clinic scheduled to open in September.

Local anti-abortion activists joined forces with national leaders to protest the new clinic -- which will offer abortions and other women's health services -- and discuss ways to stop it from terminating pregnancies.

They were countered by the Illinois National Organization for Women and other abortion-rights supporters who showed up to let Planned Parenthood and Aurora city officials know that the clinic is welcome.

The 22,000-square-foot clinic at 3051 E. New York St. will test for sexually transmitted diseases and give exams to detect breast and cervical cancer, as well as offer abortion services. Such services are much in demand in Aurora, where the nearest abortion provider is 20 miles away, according to Planned Parenthood.

Eric Scheidler, an official with the Pro-Life Action League and an Aurora resident, spoke at the rally in front of the clinic, saying, "We don't want Planned Parenthood in our town.

"Whether it's 40 days of prayer or whether it's 40 years of constant effort, we will shut down the abortion fortress of Aurora," he said. Anti-abortion demonstrators have been holding a daily vigil outside the site since Aug. 9.

But at a town hall meeting at the Prisco Community Center that followed the rally, Jean McCollum of Naperville said, "Women should have babies that they want. I think it's very sad when a baby is born to someone who doesn't want it."

Laura Anderson of Chicago, a member of the Socialist Worker's Party, said she came out because she believes it's a national struggle to defend the right of a woman to choose whether to have a child.

"It's a much bigger battle than just in Aurora. It's international. It's defending a woman's right to choose and be able to have access to safe and legal [abortion] services," she said.

Abortion opponents plan to pressure the facility on a number of fronts. Denise Mackura, director and general counsel of Ohio Right to Life, said Aurora's City Council will be asked to refuse an occupancy permit for Planned Parenthood.

The American Life League, a Virginia Roman Catholic organization, sent its vice president, Jim Sedlak, to help Aurora activists strategize ways to deter visits to the clinic and perhaps even help shut it down. Sedlak travels the country to help abortion foes, and the Aurora clinic drew interest because of its size and the "secrecy" of its inception, he said.

Building permits for the clinic were issued in the name of Gemini Health Center.

"Planned Parenthood is not an organization that should be in the community, and [opponents] can fight them and they can win," Sedlak said by phone Thursday. "We had a case in South Carolina where Planned Parenthood opened after a lot of protests and had hardly any business and ended up closing up nine months later."

Bonnie Grabenhofer, president of Illinois NOW, said the group decided to muster supporters to make it clear that opposition to abortion was a minority position.

"The anti-choice extremists have started already with a fairly consistent presence [at the Aurora site] -- not a big presence, but they started their 40-day vigil," she said by phone. "We've started getting phone calls from people asking, 'Are you going to do something?' The pro-choice side needs to be visible."

Planned Parenthood said in a statement that it offers a bulwark against sexually transmitted diseases and other health problems that are growing in DuPage, Kane, Kendall and Will Counties. Steve Trombley, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood/Chicago Area, said that more than 90 percent of its services have to do with reproductive health care, not abortion, and that the clinic is opening because of local demand.

"I think the fact that people have come in from out of town to try to organize protests seems a little absurd when in fact we have been working closely with the people of that community for years," he said.

While people can differ on abortion, the place to debate is not in front of clinics, Trombley said.

"The place to have that argument is in the legislature and in the courts," he said. "And we think that holds true for both sides of that debate."